Constructing transactive memory systems for crisis resilience from an intellectual capital lens: a multi-sector study of Chinese manufacturing firms

Purpose This study examines the relationships among Structural Holes (SHs), Chinese Cooperative Culture (CCC) and Tacit Knowledge Integration (TKI) during corporate crises. It further explores the governance mechanism through which knowledge workers construct Transactive Memory Systems (TMS) to facilitate TKI. Design/methodology/approach We employed a mixed-methods approach comprising two studies. Study One combined empirical modeling (792 questionnaires and social network analyses) and scenario experiments (200 participants) to test two hypotheses. Study Two used focused ethnography (55 direct observations, 217 archival documents and 81 semi-structured interviews) to explore the governance mechanism. Findings Our findings show that SH impede TKI during corporate crises. However, CCC moderates this relationship in an inverted U-shape: TKI is highest at moderate SH levels but decreases when SH are either too many or too few. Knowledge workers construct TMS to facilitate TKI through six micro-processes (relational connection, expertise elicitation, affective commitment, cognitive convergence, knowledge synthesis and contextual deployment) across three stages (specialization, credibility and coordination). Originality/value This study makes four contributions: (1) We fundamentally challenge the static, asset-based view of IC treating human, structural and relational capital as passive repositories awaiting extraction by theorizing IC as a crisis-driven network resource dynamically governed through culturally embedded structural mechanisms. (2) We expose culture not as peripheral but as the institutional logic legitimizing IC flows across structural divides, where CCC’s tripartite moral economy resolves brokerage legitimacy paradoxes and enables SH as prosocial governance conduits. (3) We operationalize IC’s “black box” via a granular governance mechanism that transforms structural and cultural resources into crisis resilience. (4) We develop a structure-culture matrix diagnostic tool and cognitive calibration protocols to dynamically align SH density with CCC intensity, optimizing tacit IC mobilization during crises.